Customer Reviews

Eye of the Archangel: A Mallory & Morse Novel of Espionage

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The first half of Max Phillips' Eye of the Archangel (written under the Forrest DeVoe pseudonym) is impressive in its recreation of Monaco of 1963. Like the previous Mallory & Morse offering, Into the Volcano, the two halves of the book are set in different locales. The second half of Archangel is set in the "evil lair" of the villain in the Swiss Alps. If this makes the book sound like a 60s spy spoof, it is, but fear not, the book never stoops to the satirical silliness of Derek Flint or Austin Powers movies. In fact the villains in these first two novels are much more three-dimensional and less comic-book-like than even Ian Fleming's, though no less megalomaniacal. Mallory & Morse are like an American version of The Avengers and, in fact, the books are set during the same time period. There is also a little bit of Modesty Blaise in the character of Laura Morse and a little bit of Matt Helm in Jack Mallory. So, if you're a fan of the aforementioned characters of the 60s, I recommend this book. I enjoyed both of them every bit as much as anything that was actually written in the 60s.

Following "Into the Volcano" (now in paperback), DeVoe (aka Max Phillips, author of "Fade to Blonde") sends his stylish, dangerous spy duo, Jack Mallory and the icily beautiful Laura Morse, to the Monaco Grand Prix to track a legendary superweapon.

It's 1963 and the Cold War has never been hotter. Employed by The Consultancy (though Laura has CIA ties), the pair make a splash among the superwealthy car-racing crowd, successfully attracting the notice of "The Dane," an evil, dissolute weapons dealer offering the Archangel satellite for a cool half billion.

Nobody quite knows what the Nazi-era Archangel project will do, but at that price it will undoubtedly shift the world balance of power. Mallory and Morse get themselves invited to the party - which includes lots of lewd and lethal women - and start snooping.

This homage to James Bond is snappy, campy and clever, though the middle is longer on style than substance. But Morse's lust for rare and fast cars is infectious and the Swiss Alps action scenes are breathlessly cinematic. A fun read.

Wow! I have not read a good 60's-type spy thriller since Ian Fleming died. Forest DeVoe Jr. (pen name for Max Phillips) has captured the flavor of the genre that brought us favorites like James Bond and Travis McGee.

The story is set in the early sixties. It find DeVoe's main protagonists Mallory and Morse in another sticky situation against a foe that has all the money and power that little- known, but nefarious covert operations possessed when the Cold War was at its height.

Mallory and Morse work for a shadowy group called the Consultancy that is on the side of good. It contracts with governments both friendly and adverse to the United States in keeping the world a safer place in those trying times of mutually assured destruction.

The story is expertly set around the Grand Prix racing season and its opening contest on the streets of Monaco. The world's rich and famous and bold and beautiful are gathered to watch the racers defy death on the narrow streets of Monaco. At the same time, Mallory and Morse play a deadly game of chicken with their foe, the eccentric figure of Arne Jespers, known in underworld arms dealing circles as "The Dane."

Through his worldwide network of contacts, Jespers has just offered for sale, at the price of $1 billion, a new satellite space technology first conceived by Hitler, stolen by Russia, and then stolen by Jespers. The technology will be sold to the highest bidder within a week. Mallory and Morse are contracted to recover the satellite and bring it into the hands of the West. If that can't be done, they are to destroy it at all cost to prevent it from falling into the hands of the bidders, all of whom would use the satellite to trump the nuclear arsenals of any country in the world.

Eye of the Archangel is an extremely engaging story that has a plausible scenario and is technically sound. Set in the days before cell phones, fax machines and the Internet, one wonders how the world's intelligence agencies actually got anything done!

Armchair Interviews says: Great vacation read. Pack this one with you wherever you plan to go.

I'm a few chapters in, but I don't know if I can stand to continue, despite excellent detail in the first chapter, at least. The problem is the incompetent editing/proofreading. Three times already "lay" is printed where "laid" would be correct, as in "She lay her palms on his chest." Then a rendezvous is for 15:30 on p. 41 & for 03:30 on p. 43. The last straw (so far) is utter confusion in the matter of who gets which sandwich on p. 44. These signs of incompetence, with who knows how many more to come, make it almost impossible to suspend disbelief enough to enjoy the book.